Love at Home Designs

Pages

Monday, January 11, 2016

We are doing a rug swap in our house. I've wanted chunky loop jute rugs for quite some time.

They grace the floors of all my favorite interior designers. The frayed ends are my favorite in this one that Liz has in her home.
She wrote a wonderful review of jute rugs in her home if you are curious about how they hold up and how they feel.

Oh and she has one downstairs too...

﻿

Jen from City Farmhouse has the same rug, but in the bleached look, and she shared her journey of finally finding the perfect jute (sometimes referred to as sisal) rug.
It's pretty much the exact same story I have, particularly how much her husband was not on board initially. Mine too. Boo.

As I started to scour blog land, Pinterest, Instagram and home décor magazines, I found that folks kept referring to the SAME exact rug: this Maui Chunky Loop rug. The reviews are fabulous, the feel on your tootsies is excellent and the durability is on par with our family life.

So why reinvent the wheel on this one? Done. Maui Chunky Loop rug it is.

Our current living room rug will be picked up by it's new owner tomorrow afternoon, and then one big gigantic jute rug will be enoute to our living room. Finally. #happymama

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

They had a specific idea in mind for refinishing it. Crisp white body, stained interior shelf.

The color is a Pantone Premium color in "Cloud Dancer".

I took one look at that roll top and knew I would need to spray this piece.

After spraying two coats of primer, it got three coats of the Cloud Dancer. Sanded smooth, then two coats of wax all over.

The inside was a bit of a different story.

The writing area had that faux marble top. So I did three coats of OIL based primer, three coats of the paint and then three coats of wax. Whew! That was a lot of work for a tiny area!

I sanded the inside shelving area, then applied a coat of wood conditioner, then two coats of stain. It soaked up the stain perfectly! I'm convinced the wood conditioner did the trick! It really helped the stain not to get too streaky. The stain color is "Kona" by Varathane.

It's the deepest, darkest stain I've worked with and I absolutely loved the look of it. Sidenote: don't be fooled by the crisp line between the stain and the writing surface. That was some SERIOUS trial and error trying to get that just right - SO tricky. At one point, I sat down on our front stoop, a tad frustrated, and Kyle brought me a butterfinger ice cream treat cause I was a little befuddled. Ice cream always provides painting breakthroughs for me. :)

I painted the writing surface first, then stained the back area. Wrong method. :(

So I back tracked after getting a little stain on the writing surface. Resanded it all down after I stained it, taped the shelving area off and covered it all up with wax paper, and then resprayed it. Yep - sometimes we learn the hard way. But I stuck it out and it came out wonderfully.

The owner of the desk picked out all the new hardware. I realllly liked the industrial vibe of the hardware. Changed the whole look of the piece.

It's now in it's new home.

Working on cleaning out this garage of mine before a few more custom pieces get dropped off!

Good grief - you wouldn't believe the stock of furniture I have.

I see a break in the rain, so I better run outside and get some painting in!